The fireman dresses the coal.
Peter Kerslake says "That so distinctive numberplate caused me much confusion in my very early days by the trackside , but if any engine had a history then this one did.
Rebuilt from the G.W.R.'s only 4 -6-2 " Pacific " locomotive , 111 " The Great Bear " when that engine required a heavy overhaul in 1924 , and renamed " Viscount Churchill " this locomotive retained , amongst some other pieces , the cabside numberplates and was initially paired to the unique eight wheeled bogie tender with which its predecessor had been equipped .
Legend has it that the then retired Mr. Churchward was saddened when he learned of the conversion of his " Great Bear " , but in its original form , with heavy axle loadings and extreme length the engine was restricted to working between Paddington and Bristol and so its future working life was clearly in doubt by the early 'twenties.
Allocated to Plymouth Laira in the ' fifties , and being withdrawn from that shed in July of 1953 111 went into store at Swindon's Stock Shed for a while before being disposed of ".

Trevor Tremethick adds"I think I would date this picture around 1949 and certainly before September 1950 when she had a BR crest on the tender and not GW as here.

Although Viscount Churchill is generally described as having been 'rebuilt from The Great Bear', in fact only a small number of parts from the Bear plus the tender were used. To call it a rebuild is stretching things rather as Viscount Churchill was to all intents and purposes a brand new 'Castle' in 1924.

Sadly I did not see No. 111 unless as a toddler as she was scrapped when I was one year old. I knew a chap whose brother had fired on Viscount Churchill and he told me that she 'was never quite right'. They never worked out what exactly the problem was. Perhaps the ghost of the Bear was showing her displeasure!"